Articles

Jim Hurst would be the first to tell you his soon-to-be-released Travels & Time isn’t a pure bluegrass recording. The 13-cut disc that comes out in March features a colorful palette of country, jazz, blues, and bluegrass, taking listeners on a captivating emotional journey. That, of course, is reflective of Hurst’s musical travels. His resume…

Twenty-five years passed between the first time I saw Bill Monroe play and the day I covered his funeral. In the interim, I had many chances to hear him perform, to meet and interview him, and to study his music. After I became a journalist, I also wrote many articles about Monroe, as well as…

John Reischman and the Jaybirds somehow make old-time music sound fresh and new again and again. On this latest album, the band blends old-time, bluegrass, folk, and gospel sounds in a comforting tapestry. They evoke a melancholic nostalgia in a song like “The Old Churchyard” while never becoming overly sentimental. The title track is an…

Q: I love seeing the old black & white archival photos of bluegrass from the days of old. In the early 1980s, while living in Los Angeles, I met and befriended Marshall Freedland, and we shared our love of bluegrass music and artists. He told me he had a wealth of photos that he took,…

A Bluegrass Adventure This is a story about how a two groups of young people learning to play bluegrass music connected across 2,003 miles to share 13 banjos, 4 mandolins, 6 guitars, and 20 fiddles. In September 2024, immediately after the IBMA Business Conference in Raleigh, North Carolina, the world was just beginning to hear…

The 145s (one forty-fives) are four Chicago-area musicians who got together in 2022 when they decided to combine their love of bluegrass music and its various styles and form a band. Led by Andy Miller (mandolin), the group includes Laird Patten (banjo), Elizabeth Loring (bass), and John Huber (guitar). Also on this project are guest…